Keir Starmer delivered a clear message to Donald Trump during weekend crisis talks: threatening economic sanctions against NATO partners over Greenland is wrong. The British leader’s intervention reflects mounting European concern about American willingness to weaponize trade relationships against military allies.
Trump’s controversial plan targets eight European nations, including Britain, with tariffs related to their military presence in Greenland amid US territorial ambitions. Starmer conducted multiple high-level calls on Sunday, engaging with Danish leadership, European Union officials, and NATO command to ensure coordinated resistance to Washington’s pressure tactics.
According to official summaries, Starmer consistently emphasized across all conversations that northern regional security serves shared NATO interests in maintaining Euro-Atlantic stability. His assertion that using tariffs against allies pursuing collective defense objectives represents fundamentally wrong policy signals Britain’s alignment with broader European opposition to Trump’s approach.
A collective declaration from the targeted European countries characterized Trump’s threats as undermining transatlantic partnership and risking dangerous deterioration in Western cooperation. The tariff proposal envisions 10% duties beginning February 1st, with potential escalation to 25% by June 1st absent an agreement on Greenland satisfying American demands.
Starmer’s planned Monday press conference will articulate firm British opposition without proposing reciprocal economic measures. Officials hope that the Prime Minister’s surprisingly warm personal rapport with Trump, which has previously helped Britain avoid some trade difficulties, might provide an avenue for resolving the crisis through private diplomatic engagement.